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Why is τέκτονα pronounced as τέκ-το-να?

Posted: August 14th, 2012, 9:49 pm
by GlennDean
My understanding is that the two consonants κ and τ form a pronounciable consonant cluster κτ because, for example, we have the Greek word

κτίσις (creation)

As such, should not τέκτονα be pronounced as τέ-κτο-να?

If anyone has Buth's books, I'm getting the pronounciation in Book 2A, Lesson 5, Track 27

Thanxs!

Re: Why is τέκτονα pronounced as τέκ-το-να?

Posted: August 15th, 2012, 9:27 am
by Jonathan Robie
Funk seems to agree with you:
060. Every Greek word has as many syllables as it has separate vowels or diphthongs: τε-θέ-α-μαι.

060.1 A single consonant goes with the following vowel: λό-γος.

060.2 A cluster of consonants which can begin a word, or a consonant with μ or v, goes with the following vowel: έ-σκη-νω-σεν; τέ-κνον.

060.3 A cluster of consonants which cannot begin a word is divided: ἄν-θρω-πος. Doubled consonants are divided: ἐ-γεν-νή-θη-σαν.

060.4 Compounds are divided where they are joined: κατ-έ-λα-βεν, ἔμ-προσ-θεν.

Re: Why is τέκτονα pronounced as τέκ-το-να?

Posted: August 15th, 2012, 9:57 am
by Stephen Carlson
Because Koine Greek is no longer a native language, I suspect everyone pronouncing it will have a "foreign accent" to a greater or lesser degree. But the fact of the matter is that Koine Greek was a second language to very many people in the first century and they were used to differing accents. The most important thing is getting the phonemes right.

Re: Why is τέκτονα pronounced as τέκ-το-να?

Posted: August 15th, 2012, 11:33 am
by GlennDean
thanxs for the replies!

I wonder, possibly, if may be the kappa is "blending" into the first syllable? (I'm not sure what the technical term is, but it's when a consonant seems to be pronounced in both the preceding syllable and the syllable it is suppose to be in). For example, try to pronounce the word "temple": ἱερόν (ἱ-ε-ρόν). It's difficult to separate the rho (ρ) sound from the 2nd syllable (even though it is in the 3rd syllable), so the rho (ρ) blends into the 2nd syllable (so it almost sounds like the spelling would be ἱ-ερ-ρόν).

If the above made sense, I wonder if I'm hearing is τέκ-κτο-να (i.e. the κ blends into the first syllable)

Re: Why is τέκτονα pronounced as τέκ-το-να?

Posted: August 15th, 2012, 11:42 am
by Stephen Carlson
I don't have the material to hear for myself and I don't want to speculate, but another factor could certainly be our weaker ability to hear and distinguish sounds not in our native inventory. In any case, I would expect a certain amount of "blending" in any reasonably fluent speech.

Re: Why is τέκτονα pronounced as τέκ-το-να?

Posted: August 17th, 2012, 10:11 pm
by Nikolaos Adamou
τέ-κτο-να
Is spelled as above, and pronounce appropriately since the rule is that group of consonants that are used at the beginning of a Greek word as in
κτί-σις
ALWAYS go together.
As of
ἱ-ε-ρόν
is with only one ρ .

Theodosius (the 4th century grammarian) makes spacial case about the ρ, and why it is the only consonant that takes πνεῦμα,
usually δασεῖα ῥ at the beginning of the word, and ῤῥ in the middle of the word, and in this case each ρ belongs to a different syllable.

Usually people that use the erasmian pronunciation have a tendency to make errors in syllabication and accentuation to the point that these issues are more or less very common.
Also, hellenic words that come into english change their syllabication as english words.